Cheers stars Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, and George Wendt took a memorable trip back in time. In a recent clip from the Sirius XM podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name, the trio reminisced about a day when several cast members ended up skipping work and consuming an extraordinary amount of mushrooms.
This so-called ‘hooky day’ came about due to the sitcom’s shooting schedule on that particular day. As Wendt explained, It was very female-heavy, so we felt like we could maybe [play hooky]. John had just bought a boat.
Wendt referred to fellow Cheers costar John Ratzenberger, with whom they planned this unexpected getaway.
Danson, who portrayed the bar owner Sam Malone for all 11 seasons, shared that by the time they all met at the boat, he and Harrelson were already under the influence. They even called into production to say they weren’t feeling well. According to Wendt, he felt peer pressured into going along with it too.
Kelsey [Grammer] immediately had been up all night playing cards, went down to the lower bunk, and fell asleep the whole way. Woody turns to me and goes, ‘Have you ever had mushrooms?’ And I go, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘Well, this will be a good time.’
Danson recounted. He went on to detail how he consumed a significant amount of mushrooms because he was fairly hungry.
The journey was anything but smooth sailing. They were halfway to Catalina Island facing huge swells caused by leftover waves from a hurricane in Mexico. Danson admitted,People not on mushrooms would be seasick pretty much, but I sat there getting more and more freaked out.
He then retreated to where Wendt was sitting, who quickly noticed his altered state.
Wendt helped Danson calm down during his trip by reminding him to breathe frequently. Danson highlighted how crucial Wendt was during this moment: You spent the next 45 minutes poking me about every minute or two and said ‘Breathe,’ because I would literally forget to breathe.
The incident ultimately concluded with Danson reflecting humorously on whether he’d consider taking mushrooms again. Despite it being the worst four hours for Danson at the time, he’s open to trying it again under less turbulent circumstances. As Harrelson joked: I guess it depends on the setting.
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